The Hebrew term shechita (anglicized: /ʃəxiːˈtɑː/; Hebrew: שחיטה‎, [ʃχiˈta]), also transliteratedshehitah, shechitah, shehita, means the slaughtering of mammals and birds for food. In Hebrew the word is generic and does not imply any religious or cultural practice, but in English the term has come to be used particularly for "kosher slaughter", that is the slaughter of animals for food according to Jewish dietary laws (Deut. 12:21, Deut. 14:21, Num. 11:22). The animal must be killed "with respect and compassion"[1][2] by a religious Jew who is duly licensed and trained, often called in English by the Hebrew word shochet (Hebrew: שוחט‎). The act is performed by severing the trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins and vagus nerve in a swift action using a knife with an extremely sharp blade (called a "chalef"by ashkenazim and a saquin by sephardim). This is performed with the intent of causing a rapid drop in blood pressure in the brain and loss of consciousness rendering the animal insensible to pain and to exsanguinate in a prompt and precise action.[3][4] The animal can be in a number of positions; when the animal is lying on its back, this is referred to as shechita munachat; in a standing position it is known as shechita me'umedet. Before slaughtering, the animal must be healthy, uninjured, and viable.

If the hindquarters of kosher mammals are to be eaten by Jews, they must be porged[5][6] in accordance with a strict procedure – stripped of veins, chelev (caul fat and suet) and sinews.[7] Because of the expense of porging and the skill required to properly separate out the forbidden parts, a large portion of the meat of kosher mammals slaughtered through shechita in the United States winds up on the non-kosher market.

The kosher animal cannot be shot dead by a hunter, or pollaxed, which had been common for centuries, or stunned, as is common practice in modern animal slaughter since the first half of the twentieth century, as it is considered that this would injure the animal rendering the shechita invalid, as the meat would be treifa (non-Kosher) [2][11] After shechita of mammals the shochet must feel the area around the lungs for scabbing, adhesions or other lesions, which would render the animal not kosher.

The Torah (Deut. 12:21) states that sheep and cattle should be slaughtered “as I have instructed you” but nowhere in the Torah (Five books of Moses) are any of the practices of schechita described. Instead, they have been handed down in Judaism's traditional Oral Torah, and codified in halakha in various sources, most notably the canonical codex of laws Shulchan Aruch.

To fulfill the basic law of shechita, the majority of both the trachea and esophagus (windpipe and food pipe) of a mammal, or the majority of either one of these in the case of birds, must be incised with a back and forth motion without violating one of the five major prohibited techniques, or various more detailed rules. The five major forbidden techniques include: pressing, pausing, tearing, piercing, or covering. A shochet must have studied these laws and demonstrate a thorough understanding of them, as well as have been carefully trained, before he is allowed to 'shekht' meat unaided.

The five forbidden techniques when using a halaf (sakin) to slaughter animals[edit]

שהייהShehiyah (delay or pausing) - A pause or hesitation during the incision of even a moment makes the animal's flesh unkosher. The knife must move in an uninterrupted sweep. Shehiyah occurs if the shochet accidentally stops the slaughtering process after either the trachea or esophagus has been cut, but before they have been cut the majority of the way through. Pausing can happen accidentally if muscle contractions in the animal's neck pull one of these organs out of contact with the blade. The latter case is especially common in turkeys.

דרסהDerasah (pressing) - The knife must be drawn across the throat by forward/backward movements, not by hacking or pressing. Any undue pressure renders the animal unkosher. Derasah is the forbidden action that occurs when the shochet pushes the knife into the animal's throat, chops rather than slices, or positions the animal improperly so that either its head presses down on the blade as it expires or the shochet must push the knife into the throat against the force of gravity. There are those[12] who feel that it is forbidden to have the animal in an upright position during shechita due to the prohibition of derasah (pressing). They feel that the animal must be on its back, lying on its side, suspended upside down by a rope or chain, or – as is done in most commercial slaughter houses – placed in a barrel-like pen that restrains the animal's limbs while it is turned on its back for slaughter. However, an expert shochet can slaughter the animal while it is upright without pressing the knife.

חלדהHaladah (digging or burying) - The knife must be drawn over the throat so that it is visible while shechita is being performed. It must not be stabbed into the neck or buried by fur, hide, or feathers in the case of a bird. Haladah occurs if the shochet either accidentally cuts into the animal's throat so deeply that the entire width of the knife disappears in the wound, uses a knife that is too short so that the end disappears in the wound, or if a foreign object falls over the knife so the shochet loses sight of the incision.

הגרמהHagramah (slipping) - The limits within which the knife may be applied are from the large ring in the windpipe to the top of the upper lobe of the lung when it is inflated, and corresponding to the length of the pharynx. Slaughtering above or below these limits renders the meat unkosher.

עיקורIqqur (tearing) - If either the esophagus or the trachea is torn during the shechita incision the carcass is rendered unkosher and cannot be eaten by Jews. Iqqur occurs if the shochet accidentally uses a chalaf with an imperfection on the blade, such as a scratch or nick, that causes a section of blade to be lower than the surface of the blade.[13][14][15]

Breaching any of these five rules renders the animal nevelah; the animal is regarded in Jewish law as if it were carrion.

Once the animal has been checked and found to be kosher, it is a Mitzvah for the shochet to give the foreleg, cheeks, and abomasum to a Kohen. Beit Din -in terms of the root of the obligation, has the Halachic authority to excommunicate a shochet who refuses to perform this Mitzvah. In any case, it is desired that the shochet himself refuse to perform the shechita unless the animal's owner expresses his agreement to give the gifts.

The Rishonim point out the Shochet cannot claim that since the animal does not belong to him, he cannot give the gifts without the owner's consent. On the contrary, since the average shochet is reputed to be well versed and knowledgeable in the laws of Shechitah ("Dinnei Shechita"), Beith Din relies on him to withhold his shechita so long as the owner refuses to give the gifts;

The obligation of giving the gifts lay upon the Shochet to separate the parts due to the Kohanim. Apparently, the reasoning is that since the average Shochet is a "Friend", since he completed the prerequisite of understanding the (complex) laws of Shechita and Bedikah. It is assumed that he -as well- is knowledgeable in the details of the laws of giving the gifts, and will not put the Mitzvah aside. This, however, is not the case with the animal's owner, since the average owner is an Am ha-aretz not wholly knowledgeable in the laws of the gifts -and procrastinates in completing the Mitzvah

The animal's blood may not be collected in a bowl, a pit, or a body of water, as these resemble ancient forms of idol worship. If the shochet accidentally slaughters with a knife dedicated to idol worship, he must remove an amount of meat equivalent to the value of the knife and destroy it. If he slaughtered with such a knife on purpose, the animal is forbidden as not kosher. It is forbidden to slaughter an animal in front of other animals, or to slaughter an animal and its young on the same day, even separately. This is forbidden no matter how far away the animals are from each other. An animal's "young" is defined as either its own offspring, or another animal that follows it around, even if of another species.[citation needed]

The knife used for shechita is called a hallaf by Ashkenazim or a sakin (Hebrew: סכין) by all Jews. By biblical law the knife may be made from anything not attached directly or indirectly to the ground and capable of being sharpened and polished to the necessary level of sharpness and smoothness required for shechita. The Minhag now is to use a metal knife.

The knife must be minimally 1.5 or 2 times as long as the animal's neck is wide, depending on the species of animal and the number of strokes needed to slaughter the animal, but not so long that the weight of the knife exceeds the weight of the animal's head. If the knife is too large, it is assumed to cause pressing. The knife must not have a point. It is feared a point may slip into the wound during slaughter and cause piercing. The blade may also not be serrated, as serrations cause tearing.

The blade may not have imperfections in it. All blades are assumed by Jewish law to be imperfect, so the knife must be checked before each session. The shochet must run his fingernail and flesh up and down both sides of the blade and on the cutting edge to determine if he can feel any imperfections. He then uses a number of increasingly fine abrasive stones to sharpen and polish the blade until it is perfectly sharp and smooth. After the slaughter, the shochet must check the knife again in the same way to be certain the first inspection was properly done, and to ensure the blade was not damaged during shechita. If the blade is found to be damaged, the meat may not be eaten by Jews. If the blade falls or is lost before the second check is done, the first inspection is relied on and the meat is permitted.

In previous centuries the hallaf was made of forged steel, which was not reflective and was difficult to make both smooth and sharp. The Baal Shem Tov, fearing that Sabbateans were scratching the knives in a way not detectable by normal people, introduced the Hasidische Hallaf. The Hasidische Hallaf differs from the previously used knife in that it was made from molten steel and polished to a mirror gloss in which scratches could be seen as well as felt. The new knife was controversial and was one of four reasons listed in the Brody Cherem for the excommunication of the Chassidim .[16]

Today the Hasidische Hallaf is the only commercially available knife for shechita and is universally accepted.[citation needed]

An animal must be checked again after it has been shekhted to see if there were any internal injuries that would have rendered the animal unhealthy before the slaughter, but were simply not visible because they were internal. The inspector must check certain organs, such as the lungs, for any scarring that would render the animal treif (not kosher).

Glatt or Halak in Hebrew means "smooth" in German and Yiddish. In the context of kosher meat, it refers to the smoothness, or lack of blemish, in the internal organs of the animal. In the case of a scab or lesion on a cow’s lungs specifically, there is debate between Ashkenazic customs and Sephardic customs. Ashkenazic Jews hold that if the patch can be removed (there are various methods of removing the patch and not all of them are acceptable even according to the Ashkenazic custom) and the lungs are still airtight (a process that is tested by filling the lungs with air and then submerging them in water and looking for escaping air) then the animal is still kosher, while Sephardic Jews hold that if there is any sort of scabbing or lesion on the lungs, then the animal is not kosher. “Glatt” meat would literally mean that the animal has passed the stringent Sephardic requirements.

After the animal has been thoroughly inspected, there are still steps that have to be taken before the animal can be sold as kosher – it has to be stripped of veins, chelev (caul fat and suet)[17] and sinews.[18] The Torah prohibits the eating of certain fats and organs, such as the kidneys and intestines, so they must be removed from the animal. These fats are typically known as chelev. There is also a biblical prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve (gid hanasheh), so that, too, is removed.[19]

The removal of the chelev and the gid hanasheh, called nikkur, is considered complicated and tedious, and hence labor-intensive, and even more specialized training is necessary to perform the act properly. While the small amounts of chelev in the front half of the animal are relatively easy to remove, the back half of the animal is far more complicated, and it is where the sciatic nerve is located.

In countries such as the United States, where there exists a large nonkosher meat market, the hindquarters of the animal (where many of these forbidden meats are located) is often sold to Gentiles so as to simplify the process. This tradition goes back for centuries[20] where local Muslims accept meat slaughtered by Jews as consumable; however, the custom was not universal throughout the Muslim world, and some Muslims (particularly on the Indian subcontinent) did not accept these hindquarters as halal. In Israel, on the other hand, specially trained men are hired to prepare the hindquarters for sale as kosher.

According to the Hebrew Bible the blood must also be removed from the meat, (Gen 9:4, Lev 17:10–14, Deut 12:23–24) All large arteries and veins are removed, as well as any bruised meat or coagulated blood. Then the meat has to be purged of all remaining blood (kashering). The process is generally done by letting the meat soak for around 30 minutes, covering it with salt and then allowing it to drain. In Sephardi traditions,[citation needed] one generally leaves the salt on for a full hour and then rinses the meat thoroughly. The meat is then considered kashered. However, if the meat has been left for more than three days after being slaughtered without being kashered, then the blood is considered to have “set” in the meat, and it is no longer salvageable to eat except when prepared through broiling with appropriate drainage.[21]

The laws of shechita are not given in the text of the Torah, although Karaite Jews say otherwise. The Torah does write that the slaughter shall be "as I have instructed you," though. (Deut.12:21) In Orthodox Judaism this is often cited as one proof that Moses received an Oral Torah along with the text.[22] In Karaite Judaism this is often used to suggest the Rabbinic "instructions" are actually additions to the instruction given in (Deut.12:23-24) which says "only be stedfast in not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water" suggesting that a slaughter must be done in a manner to remove the blood. In addition, Karaite Judaism forbids the slaughter of any pregnant animals due to (Lev.22:28) that states, "and whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and its young both in one day."

The practices of handling, restraining, and unstunned slaughter has been criticized by, among others, animal welfare organizations such as the Compassion in World Farming.[23] The UK Farm Animal Welfare Council said that the method by which Kosher and Halal meat is produced causes "significant pain and distress" to animals and should be banned.[24] According to FAWC it can take up to two minutes for cattle to bleed to death.[25]Compassion in World Farming also supported the recommendation saying "We believe that the law must be changed to require all animals to be stunned before slaughter."[26][27] The UK government opted not to follow FAWC's recommendations after pressure from religious leaders.[28] The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe has issued a position paper on slaughter without prior stunning, calling it "unacceptable." [29]

Nick Cohen, writing for the New Statesman, discusses research papers collected by Compassion in World Farming which indicate that the animal suffers pain during the process.[30] In 2009, Craig Johnson and colleagues showed that calves that have not been stunned feel pain from the cut in their necks,[31] and they may take at least 10-30 seconds to lose consciousness.[32] This has led to prohibitions against unstunned slaughter in some countries.

These arguments in general are rejected by the Jewish community, that argue that the method is humane and that criticism is at least partially motivated by anti-semitism. A Knesset committee announced (January, 2012) that it would call on European parliaments and the European Union to put a stop to attempts to outlaw kosher slaughter. "The pretext [for this legislation] is preventing cruelty to animals or animal rights – but there is sometimes an element of anti-Semitism and there is a hidden message that Jews are cruel to animals," said Committee Chair MK Danny Danon (Likud).[33]

Temple Grandin—a leading designer of animal handling systems—gives various research times for loss of consciousness via Kosher and Halal ritual slaughter and elaborates on what parts of the process she finds may or may not be cause for concern.[35][36] Grandin observes that the way animals are handled and restrained prior to slaughter likely has a greater impact on their welfare than whether or not they are stunned. For this reason, "under the leadership of Grandin, research into animal welfare during slaughter has shifted away from examination of different techniques of stunning to a focus on auditing the performance actual slaughter plants operating under commercial conditions." [37]

Temple Grandin is opposed to shackling and hoisting as a method of handling animals and wrote, on visiting a shechita slaughterhouse, "I will never forget having nightmares after visiting the now defunct Spencer Foods plant in Spencer, Iowa fifteen years ago. Employees wearing football helmets attached a nose tong to the nose of a writhing beast suspended by a chain wrapped around one back leg. Each terrified animal was forced with an electric prod to run into a small stall which had a slick floor on a forty-five degree angle. This caused the animal to slip and fall so that workers could attach the chain to its rear leg [in order to raise it into the air]. As I watched this nightmare, I thought, 'This should not be happening in a civilized society.' In my diary I wrote, 'If hell exists, I am in it.' I vowed that I would replace the plant from hell with a kinder and gentler system."[38]

Efforts are made to improve the techniques used in slaughterhouses. Temple Grandin has worked closely with Jewish slaughterers to design handling systems for cattle, and has said: "When the cut is done correctly, the animal appears not to feel it. From an animal welfare standpoint, the major concern during ritual slaughter are the stressful and cruel methods of restraint (holding) that are used in some plants."[39] When shackling and hoisting is used, it is recommended [40] that cattle not be hoisted clear of the floor until they have had time to bleed out.

The prohibition of stunning and the treatment of the slaughtered animal expressed in shechita law limits the extent to which Jewish slaughterhouses can industrialize their procedures. The most industrialized attempt at a kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors of Postville, Iowa, became the center of controversy in 2004, after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released a gruesome undercover video of cattle struggling to their feet with their tracheas and esophagi ripped out after shechita. Some of the cattle actually got up and stood for a minute or so after being dumped from the rotating pen.[41][42][43] Dr. Temple Grandin, told Mason City, Iowa's Globe Gazette, "I thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe it. I've been in at least 30 other kosher slaughter plants, and I had never ever seen that kind of procedure done before. … I've seen kosher slaughter really done right, so the problem here is not kosher slaughter. The problem here is a plant that is doing everything wrong they can do wrong."[44] While Agriprocessors has been criticized by both secular and Jewish organizations for both its human and animal rights violations, the Jewish Orthodox Union (OU) made note to point out that the kashrut of a product is not contingent upon "the conditions in which it is produced.[citation needed] The OU's condonation of Agriprocessors as a possibly inhumane, yet appropriately glatt kosher company has led to discussion as to whether or not industrialized agriculture has undermined the place of halakha (Jewish law) in shechita as well as whether or not halakha has any place at all in Jewish ritual slaughter.[45]

Jonathan Safran Foer, a Jewish vegetarian, narrated the short documentary film If This Is Kosher..., which records what he considers abuses within the kosher meat industry.[46] Forums surrounding the ethical treatment of workers and animals in kosher slaughterhouses has inspired a revival of the small-scale, kosher-certified farms and slaughterhouses, which are gradually appearing throughout the United States.[47]

^Cohen, Nick (5 July 2004). "God's own chosen meat". New Statesman133 (4695): 22–23. ISSN1364-7431. Retrieved 3 January 2012. Possible reasons for the suffering are laid out in various research papers that Compassion in World Farming has collected. After the throat is cut, large clots can form at the severed ends of the carotid arteries, leading to occlusion of the wound (or "ballooning" as it is known in the slaughtering trade). Occlusions slow blood loss from the carotids and delay the decline in blood pressure that prevents the suffering brain from blacking out. In one group of calves, 62.5 per cent suffered from ballooning. Even if the slaughterman is a master of his craft and the cut to the neck is clean, blood is carried to the brain by vertebral arteries, and it keeps cattle conscious of their pain.